Small things — 12 small but radical faith practices — are much more likely to grab my imagination than big stuff at this stage, amiright?

But I lose my mind when files take too long to download.

Here’s the problem: discernment, community-building, and growing ever closer to Jesus take time. Like a lifetime.

So — here’s one of my favorite phrases: incremental progress.

One of my (Erin’s) favorite things to do is witness with my own eyes incremental progress over time in my Instagram feed (Erin: @SomeWonderland & Sarah: @HolyDreaming). Last year my youngest was a chubby 3-year-old; my third-grader was missing her top teeth. We forget how far we’ve come when we only look at where we are now. And that’s just physical growth: if I scroll back to 2014, I sense my own anxiety over things I now see God’s hand in. Whoa.

We invite you, advance readers and fans, to join other Year of Small Things fans in posting pics on Instagram/ Twitter/ Facebook (using the hashtag #yearofsmallthings) as you reflect or are inspired by the book.

Use your own ideas of stuff to snap a photo of, or simply follow some prompts we’ve suggested below. (Post as often as you’d like — no pressure. Only fun.) We’ll feature some #yearofsmallthings photos on here as we’re underway!